McDonald makes fast impression

After four races on the ICAR Late Model Series, an interesting pattern has started to develop – everything from qualifying to race finishes is wide open and the series is not just for men anymore.

A 21-year-old Central Washington University senior is making her presence felt and is ready to show that a first-year team should not be counted out for the 2008 championship.

Amanda McDonald started racing as a 16-year-old Hornet driver at her hometown Ephrata Speedway. Three years later, she was running sprint cars and making occasional starts on the Northwest Outlaw Street Stock series.

When it came time to advance her career and prepare for the ultimate goal – racing full time on the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series – a move to ICAR seemed like a natural progression. After four races, McDonald leads the Rookie of the Year points chase and is fourth overall in the championship standings.

For the driver of the No. 76 Younger’s Welding/Wild Heer Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo, all of the travel and hard work to get to this point in her career is starting to pay off.

“I want to run the (Late Model) Challenge Series and after our last year in the Outlaws, we looked around and felt that ICAR was a good starting point to get us to our goal,” McDonald said. “We jumped into (ICAR) with both feet and have had to make constant adjustments to the car so far this season. Even though I had (driven) this (chassis) before on the Outlaw Series, it really seems like a new car to me.”

McDonald is one of two female late model drivers in Washington and is the only full-time competitor on a traveling series. Having been told that auto racing and female drivers are not one in the same, she’s proud of breaking down barriers along the way to her ICAR rookie season.

“We’ve developed some pretty thick skin when it comes to that (being a female driver in a traditionally male world),” McDonald said. “To me, it’s not new because we’ve always had to deal with it since I started racing Hornet cars. I don’t let it put a damper on our team. When we started out it hit pretty hard, but ICAR has welcomed us better than any other series I’ve run and that has made this year really great so far.”

Being the first female in ICAR and potentially raising the bar for others does mean a great deal to the education major.

“We pride ourselves on being able to stick to something once we start and have been able to do that since the beginning,” she said. “(Breaking barriers) does mean a lot to me when I look back at it. When I started, we were the only car with a female driver in the Hornet class and now they have two or three on any given night. We were the only one in the Outlaws and if somehow more (female) drivers are out there running those classes, it is pretty special.”

With four races to go in the season, McDonald’s steady improvement on the track has helped to reestablish her goals.

“The initial goal was to run top five each week, but we’ve won some heat races and a few trophy dashes, so we’re going into this week’s event looking to run better,” McDonald said. “We’ve gotten a better handle on our car heading into the rest of the year and we’d like to get a pole award, run in the top three and maybe even challenge for a win.

“I know to get there my crew has worked real hard and they definitely have taken me to where we’re at right now.”

That crew is led by Dennis McDonald, Amanda’s father, and Melvin Younger.

“They’re like two crew chiefs in one. (The elder McDonald and Younger) work together so closely it’s like having a left and right hand there for me,” McDonald said.

ICAR returns to Stateline Speedway Saturday night. Also racing this weekend at the Post Falls facility will be the Late Model 4s, Early Stocks and Hobby Cars.